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16.10 That's all for today.

15.50David Cameron is attending a private dinner with Aung San Suu Kyi at the home of British ambassador Andy Heyn, before flying back to Britain.

Earlier the Prime Minister and the dissident leader shared a private tete-a-tete without civil servants taking notes, during which he extended an invitation to visit Britain, before she served him and his officials with tea and traditional sweets.

13.55Burma Campaign UKwelcomed the decision not to back a full lifting of sanctions, saying that with hundreds of political prisoners still in jail, attacks against ethnic minorities continuing, and constitutional changes yet to take place, such a move would be premature. Anna Roberts, executive director of the campaign, said:

The suspension of EU sanctions keeps the pressure on the Burmese government to continue reforms, while also making a strong positive gesture that genuine reforms will be rewarded.

For the threat of re-imposition of sanctions to be credible, the EU must set clear timelines and benchmarks. We know from experience that the Burmese government is expert at delaying tactics. We also know the EU can tend to be slow and indecisive, looking for reasons to delay action.

Despite reforms, Burma is still a country with one of the worst human rights records in the world, and where the military has constitutional control over every level of government. Burma is still a very long way from being a democracy.

13.20Baroness Kinnock, Labour spokeswoman for international development, said there must be "very clear measures" to ensure that sanctions would be reimposed if there is not progress on democracy. She told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme:

We need to see interim measures, we need to see deadlines, we need to see benchmarks.

She also said she was concerned about whether there was an adequate framework of regulation and transparency in place in Burma ahead of a "gold rush" for its natural resources.

12.25Ms Suu Kyi welcomed the move to suspend sanctions, saying:

This would strengthen the hand of the reformers - not just the suspension but the fact that there is always a possibility of sanctions coming back again if the reforms are not allowed to proceed smoothly.

12.15Mr Cameron said:

I think there are prospects for change in Burma. I think it's right for the rest of the world to respond to those changes.

But he said the response must be cautious and sceptical, and that sanctions should be suspended and not lifted so that if reform process is reversed they can be reimposed.

(Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Paying tribute to Ms Suu Kyi at a news conference after talks with the iconic democracy campaigner, he added:

What an inspiration it is to have followed your struggle, to have watched your incredible courage, and the light you have shown to all those around the world who want to see freedom, democracy and human rights.

As things improve in the country, sanctions should be reduced accordingly. The political situation in Burma now is like it's come out from total darkness and people can now see a glimpse of dawn at a distance.

However, Wai Hnin, of the Burma Campaign UK, says there is still "no democratic system in Burma yet".

To remove all the sanctions would be a little bit silly - I'm afraid that these changes will stop.

Kelland Stevenson, Save the Children’s country director in Myanmar, said:

More than a million children under five in Myanmar are suffering from chronic malnutrition brought on by poverty and inadequate spending on health care. Chronic malnutrition has severe long term effects on children’s health as they grow

Malnutrition limits their physical growth, weakens their immune system and significantly hampers mental development. The government and the donor community should prioritise reforms that help reduce child hunger. Mr Cameron can do his bit by endorsing and encouraging poverty-reduction efforts.

09.45Andy Heyn, British ambassador to Burma, writes that the Prime Minister's visit is truly "historic" and "almost unbelievable".

When I arrived here in July 2009, the prospect of such a senior visit was so far-fetched as to be absurd.

09.00Esmer Golloglu (a pseudonym) writes in the Guardian about life in the new Burma - where property and hotel prices have been rocketing as the country prepares to open up to Western tourism and culture.

08.30Mr Thein told the Prime Minister through a translator:

This visit of your excellency is significant and historical in our bilateral relations. We are very encouraged and we are most appreciative of your kind acknowledgement towards Myanmar.

08.00 The Prime Minister's convoy drove from the airport of the purpose-built capital Naypyidaw down deserted roads.

At one point it passed by a group of people who sprayed it with water to mark the Thingyan Burmese New Year festival.

Mr Cameron then held a meeting with President Thein Sein at his palace.

Prime Minister David Cameron talks with Burma's President Thein Sein during their meeting at the President's Office in Naypyidaw (Reuters)

07.30 The Prime Minister said:

It's also right to come and meet Aung San Suu Kyi who has shown incredible courage over these past decades and frankly is a shining example to people all the world who yearn for freedom, for democracy, for progress.

We should be under no illusions about what a long way there is to go and how much more the (Burmese) government has to do to show this reform is real and it is irreversible.

We should be very cautious and very sceptical about that. We need to see progress on political reform. We need to see prisoners freed and changes that show the reform is irreversible.

07.00 Mr Cameron described Ms Suu Kyi as "a shining example for people who yearn for freedom, for democracy, for progress".

He added: "We should be under no illusion about what a long way there is to go." The Prime Minister said the government had to demonstrate that moves to democracy were "irreversible".

06.55 Speaking on the tarmac as he arrived in the new capital Naypyidaw, Mr Cameron said:

This country really matters. For decades it has suffered under a brutal dictatorship. It is also desperately poor. It doesn't have to be this way.

There is a government now that says it is committed to reform, that has started to take steps, and I think it is right to encourage those steps.

06.34David Cameron arrives in Burma, now known as Myanmar, on what is believed to be the first visit to the former colony by a British Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister is expected to signal the easing of sanctions against the country as he delivers a message of support to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in person.

He is also due to meet President Thein Sein and congratulate him on pushing through democratic reforms.

The European Union is expected next week to review its policies on economic sanctions on Myanmar that were imposed because of repression under the previous military regime.

Western nations have held out the prospect of easing sanctions if Thein Sein continues the political liberalisation he began after taking office a year ago. Foreign investors as well as Myanmar entrepreneurs expect a business boom when restrictions are lifted.

Mr Cameron is due to meet Ms Suu Kyi later today.

The 66-year-old became an iconic democracy campaigner as she spent most of the past two decades under house arrest under the country's military regime.

But under a recent thawing of her relationship with the government, she took part in April 1 byelections to win 43 of the 44 seats it contested. She will head the opposition bloc in parliament when it convenes on April 23.

Mr Cameron's is the latest high-profile visit by a foreign dignitary, coming after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's trip in December and Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague in January.